HBE4

Sometimes people would like some "real world information" from recent experienced cruisers. The kind of information that can't be found on a corporate website. This is one of those times. After all, isn't the whole point of CC is for people to share knowledge?

Agreed 100%

I was deep into a conversation with someone reminiscing about cruising on Liberty. Except none of the venues she mentioned sounded familiar. It took about 10 minutes to realize she as talking about Carnival Liberty while I was talking Royal LOS. 😆

Can Monarch or Majesty of the Seas be far behind? If the rumored Project Discovery is to be a small(er) ship-class, might as well use small ship names. Heck, let's go way back and update some old names. "Nordic Prince of the Seas" anyone?

Yes, indirectly. Royal pays the usual port fees & Carnival gets to keep 75% of port free collected

Why swap out? Why not both? I think you're missing the point of Reward Night😜

@dani negreanu Add me to the list of people who are happy to see you spend some much needed family time.

Agreed. I think the big challenge would be how to fit the must-have Royal amenities in a smaller package. I can almost imagine the discussion in the product design team meetings. Team leader hold up a list with 7 items: "okay, we can only pick 4 of the following 7 items. What should they be?" "Water Slides, Bumper Cars, Flow Riders, Central Park, Ice Skating Rink, Aqua Theater, Royal Promenade". And Go! 🙂

I've read both sizes - Radiance and Voyager - mentioned in various articles. Royal's design team must be working overtime trying to figure out how to squeeze the modern amenities that Royal is known for into a smaller package. I would expect some version of a Royal Promenade, dozen(s) of eating & drinking establishments, several entertainment venues, solarium, etc. It seems like a lot of pack into an under-100,000 ton ship. I can't post the link but on Matts blog there is a quote (bold & underlined is mine): "Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider alluded to the fact this new ship would be relatively smaller, "I'm careful to say small, but a less than large size class of ship."

Page halfway down to the small(er) ship discussion. https://www.thestreet.com/travel/forget-icon-of-the-seas-royal-caribbean-has-a-plan-to-go-small This part caught my attention: "Bayley implied during the media event that the company understood the need for smaller ships and implied that some work had begun. It's likely, but not confirmed, that any new class of ships would not be an update of Radiance or Vision class, but a white paper/blank page reimagining like Icon class. That does not mean the any new ships would not borrow heavily from its predecessors. Icon of the Seas builds upon a lot of Oasis-class concepts including its neighborhoods while also introducing new innovations." I think fans of older/smaller ships may be in for a disappointment when Discovery is announced not as a newer Vision-class but as a mini Icon-class. JMO.

Security probably as eyes and cameras on @Lionesss at all times to make sure she is not cheating at slots. 😉 How does someone cheat at slots? Beats me as I'm sure the old magnet trick doesn't work anymore and slugs went the way of coin-operated machines & the dodo bird. In all seriousness, I agree it's a lame response. Until the gang of mean girls becomes more brazen and started vandalizing Royal property, then you see action.

Thank you for doing this review. Liberty is a sentimental favorite of mine as she was my first ever cruise back in 2008 and sailed her 5 or 6 times with 2018 being the most recent. Six years later, I'm eager to see how she is holding up. When I first sailed her, she was the biggest & newest ship in Royal's fleet as Oasis-class was still a year away & I think Indy had started sailing (OK, so technically LOS was the 2nd newest and if I want to be real technical, I should refer to her with the LB initials 🙂). Anyways, I guess by today's standard she is considered mid-sized which is consider to be the perfect size. Big enough to have enough bell-n-whistles to not get bored but small enough to do everything in a week and not be overwhelmed with too many events happening simultaneously. If you've sailed other Freedom- or Voyager-class ships, then you probably know everything there is to know as I don't think there is anything super unique about Liberty other than the Broadway show & slightly different selection of water slides. The "Perfect Storm" slides are okay, a little too slow for me, but I really enjoyed the Tidal Wave. It's quick but you do get the feeling your raft is going to fly off the ship into the open sea. In reality, it doesn't even come close. Other than that, don't miss the Ice Show which is usually pretty good. One feature I like about this class of ship and smaller, it the outdoor promenade deck the wraps around the entire ship. A nice, shaded quiet space to escape the crowds and get as close to the water as possible for the cruise ship sensation. Plus, looking at the wake in the moonlight is really cool too! EDIT: Apologies I had meant to post this earlier, before you got on board but apparently was distracted by shiny objects or a squirrel.😉

As always, your pictures are amazing. Are they taken with a cell phone or real camera? And your trips are also always amazing. If you ever open up a tour-guide business, I'm hiring you!

Fingers-crossed the Rangers are still playing & the Empire State is lit up in Rangers Red, White & Blue.

Yankees-Phillies WS rematch? I'm there! Mets-Phillies playoff game? I might go if my Mets fans friends treat me. 😉